Recognition - The Avatar's Story
by Kaiser Zero
Summary: A recap of the White Knight Chronicles story through the eyes of the Avatar, and gave the Avatar more importance. AU
1. Disclaimer and Notes

Disclaimer: I do not own White Knight Chronicles or its characters. This story is not for monetary value.

From Author: This is my first Fan fiction, just to get that out there right off the bat (please don't be too cruel in the reviews). This story follows the main story of the game but through the eyes of the avatar. I used my own avatar from inside the game. And the main difference is that it takes a much "darker" tone, it will make a lot of sense the more you read it. This story has spoilers from the main game so don't read if you never played the game and intend to at some point. Some may like the story but others will not, either way please enjoy.

IMPORTANT: Until this Fan Fiction's ultimate completion, and as I proof read it multiple times, there may be little changes to the story please keep this in mind, in other words if you see a sentence missing or words changed around you are **NOT** crazy...or are you?

To the Reader: If it would help you understand just imagine your own avatar in the place of mine (that is if you played the game from start to finish). Also if the fic is bad please say it is bad (especially if you have written fanfics)


	2. Bedridden

Chapter 1: Bedridden

One month and some days after the events of the war with Grazel, peace had returned to the land and remnants of the Magi are still being hunted down...

In Balandor castle, inside one of the guest rooms a young nineteen year old girl with silver hair bandaged in bed finally awakens from her long sleep…

"Ughh..." the girl moaned

"She...she's coming to..." an elderly man remarked after noticing the girl making the noise

The girl in bed slowly turned her head to the right and looked upon the elderly man and spoke "...E..El...dore?"

Eldore had been sitting by her bedside monitoring her condition for what seemed like forever. The girl's body had been burn marks from her head to toe along with multiple broken bones.

"It's OK...you're safe" Eldore finally said putting his hand on her head "You are in Balandor. You have been out for a long time; most of us didn't think that you would make it the first couple of weeks."

Upon finishing his sentence he got up and began casting some healing spells to help relieve some of the pain; however each time he did she grimaced as it seemed to make it worse.

"Where…is..." the girl said through pained breaths

Eldore stopping her before she continued as he saw how painful it was trying to even breathe "Yulie is in Parma working as a wine courier, Mure…Queen Cisna has had her Coronation and now rules the Kingdom of Balandor."

Eldore stopped talking for a time as he continued to cast healing spells on her, and again grimaced in pain due to the spells effects, despite how effective they were. She finally spoke "Eldore…tha…t…hurts…"

"I know it does, but please bear with it the spells that were used on you were very potent, and only certain parts of your body have healed so far" Eldore said as he was finishing up and finally sat back down. "Madoras' spells were extremely dangerous. I'm still surprised that you are even alive right now. Most people wouldn't even be alive, much less speak after all that you have been through."

The girl in the bed just turned her head back straight and lay there for a short while then said "What…about…every…one…else?"

Eldore sat back in his chair and continued "Caesar and Kara live in Greed, I hear they have gotten married" Eldore chuckled slightly "I hear Kara…how is it people say in this age? 'Wears the pants in the relationship,' or at least that is what Yulie says"

The girl started to chuckle although it was a bad idea as her whole body felt like it was going to pieces. After the pain subsided she said, "I…gu…guess…Caes…ar…really...has…his…wo…work…cut…out…for…h-him…"

"Hmmm, true…" Eldore said then chuckled some more, then he said with a sigh "Leonard…" Eldore paused as he believe she hates him for what happened even though it wasn't his fault "He works at Rapacci still and he comes to visit Cisna almost every day, and during that he comes to check up on you. He has been knighted you see, although it is somewhat unofficial, as he was already a 'Knight' so to speak" Eldore finished with a small chuckle.

"A…and…you?" the girl said still staring at the ceiling

"Me?" Eldore paused then said "I don't do much now that Madoras is gone, the land is at peace, the Knight's power is all but gone…" Eldore paused again for a short while then said "Speaking of which…" Eldore then reached over and grabbed a dark grey orb from off the desk and showed it to her.

The girl turned her eyes and tilted her head to get a better look and said "My…ark…"

"Yes…" Eldore then put the orb back down and continued "You already know of the 'rule' of the arks; 'None may touch the ark, with the exception of the pact maker.' So I ask, although your knight was artificial, the power you wielded far exceeded the normal five knights and although Madoras absorbed them to bring himself into our world I sense them still through yours, however I can touch it...possibly even use it if I chose…where did your power come from?"

The girl remained silent to the question, possibly due to pain or simply did not want to answer his question. Either way Eldore simply waited for a response from the young lady, but was cut short from the sound of a pan dropping behind him. "My goodness, she's awake!" a maid of the castle said as she was beginning to pick up the medical supplies that were on the pan.

"Well…looks like I will have to wait a little while longer for your reply. I guess I shouldn't push it anyway after all you just woke up from a one month coma" Eldore said as he started to get out of the chair to walk out.

"El...dore…wa..it" the girl spoke as he started to walk away "Th..th..there…are…more than…the…fi..ve…kn…kni…knights"

Eldore stopped just as he reached the door to the hallway and turned around to the girl and said "That is impossible, I was at the Dogma Wars there are only five…" Eldore paused then said "Madoras' knight was a fusion of the five twisted by his dark magicks, and so I am not counting that one or yours."

The look in the girl's eyes told Eldore that he as wrong and that caused Eldore to begin his return to the girl's side. The maid that had walked in the room spoke up "Ahem…it is time for the lady's bath and bandage replacement, can't this wait?"

"I suppose it could…It is already getting late anyways the sun has already set over the horizon" Eldore remarked then continued "I will return in the morning, get some sleep…Aniya." And with that Eldore walked out of the room and left the castle to his residence in the kingdom contemplating on what she said about there being more than five knights.

~The Next Day~

The rooster crowed in the morning so loud that Aniya, the girl in the bed, had to cringe. "Being in a coma seemed to play havoc with my senses."

Aniya began to sit up in the bed, seemingly regaining some of her motor functions, and started to think about how she was going to explain to Eldore when he came in. Not a few moments had passed after thinking about Eldore that she saw him in the doorway just standing there looking at her.

"Good morning, Aniya" Eldore said with a small smile

"Good morning, Eldore" she replied rather meekly since she knew what was coming, as he told her that he would be back in the morning though he did not say when…

Eldore walked up to her bedside and sat down in the chair that was always there for visitors. As Eldore sat down he said "Well, compared to yesterday you are looking better having the ability to sit up in bed." After a short pause Eldore then said "When you told me there were more than the five what did you mean?" Upon finishing Eldore placed the ark into Aniya's lap.

Aniya looked down at the ark and replied "Exactly what I said…"

"That can't be possible..." Eldore had the look of confusion as he spoke

Aniya shook her head "You know of the Knights in their corporeal forms: towering sets of armor. You also know that every Knight has a 'spirit' that a person makes a pact with in order to wield it, you must have known about it just before Leonard grabbed the gauntlet that lets him command the White Knight."

"Hmmm…." Eldore put his hand on his chin and thought for a few moments then said "True, it was the same with Caesars Knight, but that one talked just the same way you and I are now. And that was because there was a dragon inside the armor that time that is the only exception."

Aniya shook her head and said "The spirit spoke through the dragon. There is a spirit for each Knight…mine included."

"…How many spirits are there?" Eldore said cautiously

"…Thousands, but the ability to call them to this world and make more Knights was long lost. Or…at least it was until I received the Knight." Aniya remarked as she looked towards Eldore

Eldore immediately stood up and started for the door.

"Where are you going Eldore?" Aniya asked

"I am going to have a talk with Framboise." Eldore spoke with his back still turned

"I see..."

Eldore then spoke to the guard who was posted outside the door, as he left the room "Keep her company until I return, in case she needs anything."

~30 minutes later~

"Guard, thank you please leave us" Eldore said as he walked back into the room where Aniya was recuperating

As the guard was leaving Aniya spoke "Thanks for the company, I hope your mother fares well." The guard turned around and gave a polite nod and left the room.

Eldore questioned "What was that about his mother?"

"Oh, his mother was a nurse during the war, but she had strained herself too much so she is slightly sick. We were just talking about her health and hope she gets better that's all." Aniya replied

"I see...well anyways I made it so Balandor halts all production of artificial Knights so what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else." Eldore then spoke

Aniya then nodded her head and chuckled a little "It is probably for the best. We don't want to have people with intention of destruction or other dark desires to have access to a ten meter tall monster." She then looked at Eldore who had a puzzled look then said "Those that make pacts with the Knight spirit are not 'controlled', a spirit only acts like a medium between a human and the armor itself."

"So…you weren't being controlled…" Eldore said slowly

"No…I made my own choices, but the spirit I made a pact with amplified my thoughts." Aniya then said with a saddened look in her eyes "All the sorrow, anger, and hate I had…"

"I see…"

"I think it is best if I start at the beginning of our journey, even before you, me, Leonard, and Yulie began our trek to rescue Cisna, maybe then you will understand better…"

"Considering all that we went through, and all that we did, some things are better left unsaid…" Eldore remarked thinking about what happened to Aniya and how she ended up in the bed looking like hell had walked all over her.

"So you say, Eldore. But let me ask you this if I wasn't there at certain times, do you think that you would have made it? Have you ever wondered how we even survived some encounters before I even obtained the Knight?" as Aniya finished the ark started to glow faintly "I see that it still regards me as its master after what had happened…"

Eldore's body tensed up and slowly started to reach for his sword, but he thought about what she said and in her current condition couldn't possibly transform now. _"Even if she could...the strain of transforming may kill her" _Eldore thought to himself and returned his hand from the hilt of the sword.

"You have nothing to fear from me Eldore" Aniya spoke up as she was watching Eldore's hands. Aniya picked up the ark and placed it on the table next to Eldore, she then said "Even if I wanted to I couldn't…I sense no power coming from it…" Aniya paused "Even if I could and the transformation might kill methe way I am now…"

"Can you…read my thoughts?"

"No…but I can read people's actions."

"Can you blame me?"

"I suppose not...not after what happened on Red Horn..."

"Indeed..."

"But, its also for that reason I need to explain from the beginning..."

"Ok, then…let's hear your story Aniya."

"Alright, but first…lets have breakfast" She said with a smile as she noticed the maid in the doorway holding a tray of food.

"Fair enough" Eldore said grudgingly as Aniya began to eat her meal


	3. The First Journey

A/N: Most of the story is flashbacks. That said there will be parts of the game that are omitted.

Chapter 2: The First Journey

"Ahh…that hit the spot" Aniya said with a huge grin after finishing her food

Eldore chuckled "Well, you have been out for a month, and during that time all you had was water"

"Huh…" Aniya sighed "Well…since that is out of the way I can explain what happened… and why it did…"

Eldore sat back in the chair and began to listen carefully to what she would say.

"When I first came to Balandor I was just an average adventurer I went out, did quests, turned them in for the chump change that they gave, rinse and repeat, and that was my life…" Aniya began "Two days prior to me traveling with everyone I decided to stay in one spot and so when I was in Balandor I tried to join the knights, but…I wasn't accepted and so I looked around some more trying to be a bodyguard, even a courier, but my fighting style didn't fit the job descriptions so I was stuck, and so as a last resort I ended up in at Rapacci Wines."

**~PAST~**

"Hey, new girl!" Rapacci yelled to Aniya

Aniya grudgingly said under her breath "I have a name…" then out loud "Yes?"

"I need you to take these notices to the castle, and make it snappy!" Rapacci commanded

Aniya grumbled when she took the notices from Rapacci tnen said "What are these?"

"Short version: it explains that we are providing the wine to Princess Cisna's coming-of-age ball tomorrow" Rapacci commented then with a large grin "Rapacci Wines is finally getting a step up!" but then said with anger in his voice "Why are you still standing there? Get going!"

When Rapacci yelled Aniya felt so little, but she did as she was told as something told her she did not want to be on his bad side. While traveling to the castle she noticed how the nobles were clamoring about how beautiful Princess Cisna was, and about how mute she has been since what happened that fateful night. "Hmph, uptight asses" Aniya said under her breath as she passed some of the nobles who commented on her clothing, although she knew some of them had a point on her clothing as her boots were muddy and she was wearing torn armor. "I need to get some new clothes. After I drop off these notices I'll take a detour to the store, I'm sure Rapacci won't mind" she thought to herself.

"Halt, what is it you need from the castle commoner?" was the guards first words as she approached the castle gate. The gate guard looked down on her as if she were a pest waiting to be squished

"I am here to drop off these notices from Rapacci Wines." Aniya replied

"I will take them, off with you" the guard said as he snatched the papers out her hands

"Hey!" Aniya yelled "What's with you? I did nothing wrong and yet you treat me like I committed a crime or something!"

"I said: Off with you!" the guard replied with a much harsher voice and the guard looked at Aniya as if he were going to skewer her with his spear.

"Enough!" came from behind the guard and he popped to attention as he knew whom the voice belonged "What is the problem here?" The voice had come from Sir Cyrus, General of Balandor's forces.

"Sir Cyrus, this commoner was harassing us, sir" the guard replied

"Is that so?" Cyrus said as he looked from the guard to Aniya and said "Is this true?"

"Of course not!" Aniya replied fiercely then continued "I only came to deliver a message from Rapacci Wines but…this guard was being an ass about it…"

"I see…" Cyrus then paused "Wait…I remember you now. You had tried to join the Knights just the other day but were rejected."

Aniya had felt somewhat hurt being told of her failure by none other than the highest ranking official in Balandor's military. Rather than stress the problem further Aniya bowed and turned and walked off. "Hmph…I can't believe how people are in this Kingdom..." Aniya said to herself as she walked away.

As Aniya reached the store she took out the money she had on hand and remarked how little she had "I can't buy much with this, but at least I can get something better looking than what I have on." Aniya purchased an olive green dress which had some gold trim, along with some new boots and traded her old gear in, which sadly didn't add up to much as it was so worn.

With her shopping complete Aniya made her way back to Rapacci who remarked on her new clothes but reprimanded her for taking so long.

"It is going to suck living here in Balandor" Aniya remarked to herself "…Rapacci I am going home for the day, I'll be back in the morning" Aniya said as she began to walk out the door.

"Hold on" Rapacci quickly said then added "Tomorrow you are going with someone to Parma to pick up the wine for tomorrow; you have to travel through Balastor Plain so make sure you are ready."

"Got it!" she said as she waved and walked off

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"So…what does what happened to you all the way back then have to do with what happened a month ago?" Eldore asked

"Remember how I said all my sorrow, anger, and hate? That was the start of it all"

"Is that so?" a voice from the door sounded and it came from Sir Cyrus

"Cyrus…" Aniya remarked

"I never did tell you why you were rejected from the Knights did I?" Cyrus began, "It was due to the ball that happening the next day, we did not want to risk any spies getting into the castle as the Farians were coming as well…and well you know how it goes…"

"I see…well thanks for clearing that up. Although it is a bit late…" as Aniya said with a grin "one year and a couple of months to be exact."

Eldore chuckled slightly and Cyrus followed shortly afterwards, and eventually Aniya herself but had to hold her side as she was still in pain

"Anyways, so what happened next?" Eldore said after he finished chuckling

"Hmm, well the next day I went to Rapacci Wines and began the work day aligning barrels, cleaning up the shop…listening to Rapacci complaining about how he wants his business to boom..." Aniya said as she was continuing her story, "I met Leonard for the first time, who had the previous day off, and we began our trek towards Parma…which reminds me Eldore, now that I think about it, that day on the street it was you wasn't it?"

"Yes…" Eldore replied

"I have a question about that. Why did you look at Leonard and me the way that you did? It was almost as if you had a bone to pick with us." Aniya commented

"I could…sense something coming from Leonard, you just happened to be in my line of sight at the time." Eldore answered

"I see…I guess you sensed Madoras but couldn't exactly make it out then huh?"

"Indeed"

"Well, moving on, when me and Leonard were traveling through Balastor Plain he explained Rapacci's attitude to me and told me it was nothing personal, that he was like that to everyone even him. He also explained that he was an orphan and Rapacci raised him." Aniya continued "When we were traveling on the plain Leonard remarked about how good I was with the blade, how I dispatched monsters so easily and that dispatched monsters so easily nother dayd about how good I was with theake Rapacci'imeg official .hrthe chump changwanted to spar with me one day. And then we finally made it to Parma and met up with Yulie…"

...

**~PAST~**

...

"Oh, you must be the new girl" Yulie remarked to Aniya "Rapacci told me a little about you"

Aniya grumbled under her breath as she disliked being called that. "I'm Aniya, nice to meet you Yulie."

"Same here" Yulie nodded and paused for a moment then turned to Leonard "I guess you're here for the wine right? Well we can't go anywhere until we find Raus he is the only one who can drive the beastwain. He's probably napping off somewhere again…or drinking…or both"

"Just great…" Leonard said with a sigh "You know how Rapacci gets when it comes to his business, let's split up and find him."

"Actually let's walk together Leonard, the village isn't that big and we can chat for a bit" Yulie replied quickly "You think you will be ok Aniya?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. What does Raus look like?" Aniya asked

"Oh, that's right you haven't been here before. Raus is a Papituar about so high including ears" Yulie replied trying to describe Raus "…also he may be the only Papituar who might be wobbling while he is walking if that helps."

The group chuckled a little at Yulie's comment about Raus being a drunkard; afterwards they split up with Aniya taking the eastern half of Parma and Yulie with Leonard taking the western half. While Aniya was doing her search she noticed the village had a weapons shop in it. "Hmmm, I wonder…" Aniya thought to herself as she entered the shop and looked around then asked the shop clerk "nice selection of items, I never thought I'd see a weapons shop in a village like this, it seems too peaceful to have one."

"Well…with Balastor Plain nearby we sometimes have monsters that wander into the village so, we need weaponry to defend ourselves" the shop clerk replied

"I see that makes sense" Aniya paused and looked around "You have an impressive display."

"You seem like you know your weapons" the clerk said as he reached below the counter "what do you think of this bow?" the clerk continued as he handed Aniya a bow made of oak

Being an adventurer Aniya had a wide variety of weapon knowledge so when she examined the bow she looked at it like she were a scientist of sorts then remarked "Hmmm, it's nice and light…though the string seems a little big doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah that string is for special arrows. Or, at least, the ones I make" the clerk replied as he pulled out one of his arrows, which was rather large for a normal arrow, and handed it to her. The clerk continued "I made this for stopping a troll. I know what you are thinking: 'an arrow stopping a troll?' When you hit a troll with something like this in the right spot, like its eye for instance, it may do more damage than a normal arrow would."

"I see your point" Aniya spoke as she started to hand back the special bow and arrow

"You can keep that, I haven't really tested it on a troll yet, just vespids and the occasional polkan" the clerk chuckled "here are a few more arrows just in case."

"Aniya! Where are you!?" a call came from outside

"Oops, I forgot I was supposed to be looking for Raus. Thanks again, I'll tell you how it works if I ever run into a troll!" Aniya quickly said to the clerk as she ran out

"Oh, shopping?" It was Leonard who came looking for Aniya

"Sorry, when I was looking for Raus I went into the store and got wrapped up in a conversation" Aniya said out of breath

"Alright, well it's almost time for us to head back; you haven't seen Rapacci mad until you are late with a shipment" Leonard said with a shudder

"_gulp…_I guess we shouldn't tarry then"

"Yeah…by the way Yulie was right on about Raus: he was drinking AND sleeping" Leonard said with a laugh

With that Leonard and company started their return journey to Balandor wagon in tow, with a slightly hung-over Raus at the reins of the beastwain. During the journey back Leonard, Yulie, and Raus all had conversations with each other effectively leaving Aniya out of it…almost as if she was not present.

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"…And it was around this point where I started to 'fade into the background" Aniya spoke with a sad expression then looked at Cyrus and Eldore "I started to dislike Leonard and Yulie for that."

"I…I had no idea…" Eldore spoke up

"I still don't get it. What exactly are you talking about?" Cyrus asked cautiously

"She is explaining about her actions on Red Horn Isle. You weren't there Cyrus so I don't really expect you to know about it," Eldore explained, "but if you stick around through this I think you will come to understand."

"I regret what happened that day…I shouldn't have…" Aniya said close to tears

Cyrus stood in the room looking dumbfounded not truly understanding what transpired during the events of Red Horn Isle. "I…uh…need to return to my duties, I have already spent too much time here," Cyrus finished,"…I will return later."

"Very well" Eldore added "it is probably best to take a short break here as you have been talking for a while now Aniya."

"Maybe…it is close to noon now. Heh how time flies, right?" Aniya joked

Eldore chuckled "Yes, it does…I will come back in a couple of hours, we can continue then ok?"

"Ok" Aniya said with a smile

Eldore had left the room and Aniya was alone once again. "Red Horn Isle…" Aniya muttered to herself then began to sob silently "how I wish I could take back that day…"

"Um…milady?" A maid who walked in spoke as she had noticed Aniya crying "Is…is something the matter?"

"N-no…its nothing" Aniya spoke quickly wiping away her tears

...

~Several Hours Later~

...

"I'm back Aniya" Eldore spoke as he walked in "and I brought you something. Come on in!"

As Eldore finished talking Yulie and Leonard walked in much to Aniya's surprise. "You guys…" Aniya started "it's good to see you"

Yulie ran to Aniya's bedside and hugged her tightly then spoke tearily "Oh my God, I so glad you are awake!"

"Yulie…OW!" Aniya yelled trying to push her off

"I won't let go!"

Leonard and Eldore could not help but watch and eventually laugh at the two. "Can you blame her Aniya? Compared to the rest of us she worried the most about you." Leonard said through his laughter "although Yulie…she is still in pain in some places I don't think you want to injure her more

Coming to this realization Yulie had ceased her bear hug on Aniya. "How long have you been awake? Are you eating ok? Do you still feel pain?" Yulie said quickly barely stopping for breath

"I woke up yesterday, the food here is pretty good considering I'm in the Royal Palace, and I still hurt in some places" Aniya answered in order

"I had told them you were telling me about what happened, and where you left off" Eldore spoke bluntly "shall we continue?"

"Yes, let's…" Aniya then looked at Yulie and Leonard "are you sure you two want to hear this?"

Leonard and Yulie nodded in agreement then took their seats with Leonard sitting next to Eldore and Yulie sitting on the bed next to Aniya. "Don't forget about me..." It was the voice from Cyrus who was in casual attire as his duties for the day had finished and had just walked in "I want to hear everything up to Red Horn Isle…"

"Very well…When last I left off we had just left Parma with the wine…" Aniya started

…

**~PAST~**

…

"I'm so jealous of those two" Aniya mumbled to herself as she looked at Leonard and Yulie talking like they haven't see each other in years

"Mmmm" Raus commented as he started to smack his lips "I could really go for the wine in the barrels right now"

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." Yulie replied with an almost evil voice

Raus recoiled from Yulie's words almost as if he were a child. Aniya and Leonard laughed themselves to tears at the sight; however their fun was cut short as the beastwain started to become restless. "What's wrong with him?" Leonard asked cautiously

"I-I-I-I don't know…hungry maybe?" Raus answered while trying to contain the animal

"Oh…no…" Yulie spoke with a terrified voice "Troll!"

The troll had come up on their rear and seemed to be attracted by the smell of the wine. "Raus, get out of here we'll hold it off" Leonard yelled as Yulie, and Aniya readied their weapons while Raus had gone full speed away from the encroaching troll

"Yulie, is that all you have? A dagger?" Aniya asked as she looked at Yulie's weapon

"Yeah, I didn't think we'd run into a troll of all things, so I left my other items at home" Yulie replied with a guilty voice

"Here take this, I got this from the store when we were in Parma, he said that he made it specifically for trolls" Aniya quickly said as she tossed Yulie the bow and arrows she got from the store clerk

But the troll was on them however and as Yulie had grabbed the bow and was preparing it the troll took a swing in her direction with it's club. "Yulie!" Leonard yelled towards her but she was struck with fear as she had never seen a troll much less fight one

"Look out!" Aniya yelled as she rushed to Yulie and pushed her out of the way effectively out of the range of the troll's club but in turn took the blow herself which sent her flying into the nearest tree

At this point Leonard had gotten a clean blow on the troll's knee which had forced it down in range of normal weapons. Yulie had finally readied an arrow and managed to strike the troll, ironically, in the eye forcing it to run away when it finally regained its balance. "Yeah! Ha ha, you better run!" Yulie cheered as she saw the troll retreating

"You ok, Yulie?" Leonard asked concerned for his friend

"I'm fine..." Yulie replied with voice trembling

"Yeah…I'm fine too…" Aniya grumbled as she walked up

"What is a troll, of all things, doing this close to Balandor?" Leonard wondered

"I don't know but we need to inform the guards when we reach Balandor" Yulie replied

As the encounter drew to a close they noticed how far the sun had set on them and realized they are late with the wine. "We need to hurry!" Leonard yelled in desperation as they all started to resume their trek to Balandor albeit a much faster pace...

...

~Fifteen minutes later at Balandor Gate~

...

"Rapacci Wines?" the guard said who was waiting at the gate for them, "You are late…"

"Sorry, but we ran into a troll on the way so we were held up for some time" Yulie tried to explain

"Troll…on Balastor Plain? Are you sure you didn't take sips of the wine on your way back here?"

"No, it's true!" Leonard pitched in, "We barely managed to fight it off, and besides we aren't old enough to drink yet"

"Hmm, alright we will have looked into. Hurry up to the palace, they are waiting for you" the guard finished as Leonard and Yulie with Raus started up the path

Aniya, who was holding her left side this entire time, thought to herself as she they reached square "I don't think they need me for a delivery, so I'll head home and heal up" then noticed the circus was in then said "I'll enjoy the entertainment before I head home" and joined the crowd gathered around the entertainers

Out of nowhere the circus tent exploded and revealed a monster with a cannon on its back along with soldiers clad in black who started to kill indiscriminately. "Pyredaemos!" a bald headed man yelled, "To the castle!"

The monster had begun its march to the castle and crushed underfoot any who got in its way. Aniya commented "And here I thought this day couldn't get any worse…" then realized Leonard and Yulie are at the castle and started to run to warn her comrades, but was slowed slightly due to the injury she sustained when dealing with the troll earlier

Upon reaching the castle Aniya noticed the cart with the wine was still outside but Yulie and Leonard were nowhere to be found. "They must have gone inside" she muttered and went up the steps but was stopped by the guards

"Halt!" one of the guards yelled "No visitors to the castle at this time!"

Before Aniya could start to explain a soldier pushed his way through shouting "M-M-Monster!" upon entry. Sure enough the cannon monster Pyredaemos was almost on top of them with the bald headed man directly in front along with the soldiers. "Out of my way!" screamed Aniya as she pushed her way through and into the castle still concerned for her friends. Shortly afterward the soldiers followed and the beast burst through the castle doors taking the entire wall with it.

"Soldier's to arms!" screamed Cyrus who was directing his troops, then spotted Aniya "Where are you going? Don't run away! Your King needs you!"

"I'm no soldier!" Aniya spat back still running in one direction, she however was stopped by an enemy soldier while she was searching

The soldier had rushed Aniya swinging his sword wildly showing no sign of skill; as such Aniya easily dodged him and managed to knock his helmet off with one clean blow, revealing a boy no older than she. "You…are good…" the soldier said complementing the girl then continued his assault

Aniya was stunned at the boy's age that she did not pay attention to his attack like she did before and ended up knocked to the ground by the boys shoulder charge. Aniya moaned as she regained her composure; however the soldier was posed above her about to deliver a finishing strike. Then, without thinking, she raised her sword and ran the soldier through delivering a fatal wound

The soldier had coughed up blood and let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground dead. Noticing this Cyrus made his way to Aniya's side who was in a state of shock at her action, as she had never killed another human being before. "What…have I done?" she muttered as she looked up at Cyrus with tears in her eyes "I-I killed him…"

Cyrus remained silent for a moment then said "This is what happens in combat between soldiers, one must perish for the other to move on, that is the nature of war…"

Aniya stared at Cyrus for another moment then staggered to her feet then said "I-I-I-I…"

Cyrus grabbed Aniya's shoulder and spun her in his direction whereupon he slapped her across the face "You wanted to be a Knight? This is one of the services you must perform! I was right to reject you…" Cyrus declared

Aniya had never felt so hurt in her life but did not have time to reply as they both felt a tremor come from beneath. Then, out of nowhere, from the ground they witnessed monster and a seven meter tall suit of white armor erupted and continued their battle with all present awestruck…

...

**~PRESENT~**

...

"…I don't think I need to explain what happened next as we were all there." Aniya finished

The room was deathly silent with the exception of the crickets outside. Leonard finally broke the silence, "I had no idea…You went through hell that night…And I thought I had it bad."

"Cyrus!" Yulie exclaimed. "How could be so cruel? Slapping her?"

"…He was right though," Eldore butted in, "that IS the nature of war."

"It's true," Aniya added, "if what happened didn't happen that night…I wouldn't be here now, nor would I have had the courage to fight them later…"

Cyrus then nodded and was slowly backing away from Yulie who looked like she was going to kill him. "I…uh…think that's enough for one night" Cyrus muttered as he slowly started to make for the door

"Indeed, let us continue this tomorrow," Eldore added, "Same time then?"

Aniya then nodded then started to get comfortable in order to go to sleep. "Good night, everyone" Aniya exclaimed as the group made their way out and back home for the evening

~Later that night~

The orb that had been sitting on the table next to Aniya's bedside had begun to glow ominously, then very faintly uttered "Little…girl…"

Aniya opened her eyes and looked at the ark; however the orb had died out and was again silent. She then closed her eyes and silently said "Good night…" and went back to sleep…

A/N: As those who already played and beaten the game already know that Yulie was the most pure hearted character of the story (well her and Cisna), its not surprise that she would be worried about a fellow comrade. (In other words this isn't a AvatarxYulie Fanfic)


	4. Through the Desert

Chapter 3: Through the Desert

The following morning…

"_Yaaaaawn_…they're late" Aniya exclaimed as she noticed that everyone didn't show up at the rooster crow as planned, then to herself "Well…I suppose it makes sense...everyone has lives…"

Aniya then removed the covers that had covered her the entire time and revealed that her leg burns were mostly healed. "Milady?" a maid said as she walked in realizing that Aniya had woken up for the day "I hadn't realized you were up, is there anything you need?"

"No…not right now" Aniya said waving her off, she then placed her feet on the ground then said to herself "Floor is cold…but whatever"

Aniya then tried to stand on her feet but it ended in failure for as soon as she managed to stand upright she fell to her knees and against the table. The maid said in a horrified voice "M-Milady!" as she rushed to her side and helped her back onto the bed

"I guess I can't leave yet…" Aniya said with a sigh

"Milady, you mustn't push yourself!"

"I know but…"

"The queen said you may stay as long as you need so you can fully heal"

"So…she knows I'm awake hmmm?"

"Y-Yes…I informed her the first day you awoke" the maid started "She also said 'I am sorry I cannot visit you, I will see you soon though'"

"It makes sense, she IS the queen of an entire country" Aniya said as she slipped back under the covers

"Indeed" came a familiar voice "But she wants to see you almost as much as Yulie did…"

"Hey Cyrus…"

"Hey…"

"Where is Eldore and everyone else?" Aniya questioned

"They are coming, they had to speak to the queen" Cyrus started "How are you holding up?"

"Well…" Aniya said as she looked at the maid then back at Cyrus, "I can't walk yet, but I can do everything else…"

Cyrus nodded, "It's a start at least"

"Yeah…" Aniya said in agreement

"Ahh, the lady is awake I see" came the voice of Eldore who had walked in along with Leonard and Yulie

"You're late Eldore…" Aniya exclaimed

"I was actually here before the crow of the rooster" Eldore started "But you were still sleep, I didn't want to disturb you, plus you looked so peaceful"

Aniya shot a glare at Eldore as she was surprised that he came in while she was sleeping, she then said "You were watching me sleep?"

"Only for a moment, but enough of that…"

"Yes…Um, miss can you leave us? Actually you can take the day off as they are all here, I'm sure they can handle anything" Aniya said to the maid who was still standing at the bedside

"I cannot milady, the queen ordered…"

"I will take responsibility," Cyrus cut in, "Go ahead and take a rest, you look like you need it" Cyrus mentioned as he noticed that the maid's eyes were slightly red as she had been up for more than a day

"Yes, Sir Cyrus" the maid finished as she bowed then went out the door

"Now that that is done…" Eldore muttered

"Yes, I know" Aniya replied grudgingly "Let's see, when I last left off the fight between you, Leonard, and that beast was finished but Cisna was taken away. Later, as you remember, Sarvain suggested sending you to rescue the fair princess, whereas I was still in shock to some degree…"

...

**~PAST~**

...

Aniya was standing over the dead soldier in the rubble of the castle with her bloodied blade in her right hand, which had dried at that point, then noticed Sir Cyrus yell in frustration and decided to go over to him. "Sir Cyrus, what is the matter?" Aniya asked meekly

Cyrus had given her a glare that would freeze the blood of anyone then said "Sarvain that pompous ass, he is sending a CHILD of all things to rescue the princess, all the while not worrying about the Farians. Their archduke was killed along with our king; we can't just sit here…"

Before he knew it by the time he finished with the first sentence Aniya had already left trying to find Leonard and Yulie because the only people she could think about when he said "child" were those two. Aniya had reached Rapacci's shop when she saw Rapacci himself.

"New girl…" Rapacci started "What are you doing here? Weren't you with Leonard and Yulie?"

"I'm…looking…for…them" Aniya uttered in-between breaths as she ran as fast as she could from the castle to the shop

"I see. They just left here saying they are going to rescue the princess along with some elderly fellow."

Aniya at that point felt pitiful and said with her voice breaking "Why'd they leave me?"

"They probably didn't want to get you involved" Rapacci said trying to comfort her "Come inside for a moment."

As Rapacci finished his sentence he opened the door and motioned for Aniya to join him, and she did. Rapacci then went behind his counter and pulled out something very familiar to the young girl "Is…that?"

Rapacci had pulled out her old armor, however it was cleaned and anything wrong with it before was undone then Rapacci started "I used to be an adventurer too in my younger years. I know you have seen a lot with this on. "

Aniya looked astonished, she did not expect to hear that Rapacci used to journey much less speak to her in a calm collected voice. "But…why?" She asked slowly

"I know you are going to follow them anyways, but I can't let you go unprepared" Rapacci said with a smile then continued "But I do have a requirement before I give this to you…"

"And that is?" Aniya said cautiously

"Take care of Leonard for me. He isn't my biological son but I love him just the same."

"You got it!" Aniya said with a confident voice

Rapacci then handed her the armor along with a new weapon with some gilda, about two-thousand to help her on the way then said with his regular voice "What are you waiting for? Get going!"

Aniya had never felt good to have been yelled at Rapacci before. She then yelled back "Yes, sir!" before going to get changed

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"Wow, I didn't know he said that to you" Leonard interrupted

"There are a lot of things we did not know about until now" Eldore added

"Ahem…Yes well there is still more to know" Aniya said with a huff

"Sorry about that" Leonard said apologetically

"It's ok. Now, after I got my armor on Rapacci pointed me towards the Greydall Plain and I was on my way. Just before I left though Raus came up to me and offered me a deed to a place called a 'Georama' for one-thousand gilda, I thought 'why not?' and I took it."

"What…is a 'Georama'?" both Cyrus and Leonard asked at the same time

"I'll explain later. So afterwards I made my way to Greydall and to you guys" motioning to Leonard, Yulie, and Eldore then with a sad voice "Although…"

...

**~PAST~**

...

"What are you doing here?" Leonard asked confused

"What?" Aniya asked equally confused

"This doesn't concern you."

"Like HELL it doesn't" Aniya angrily announced "I know we didn't know each other long, but I can prove useful: I know a lot of things from beyond this area, which in turn can be used effectively."

There was a short silence then elderly man in the group who was off to the side next to Yulie professed: "Hmmm, why not?"

"And you are?" Aniya asked

"The name is Eldore, an old man as you can see. I have skill with magic as well as blade, and I also have a reason to go on this journey to rescue the princess."

"I see, well the name is Aniya I know magic too, although I don't use it much, and I have skill with all types of weaponry. I am, or rather I _was_, an adventurer."

At this point Leonard had grudgingly accepted Aniya into the party originally unaware of her knowledge. Pressing onward Aniya mentioned several herbs and items that could be used for potions as well as things to sell. It was going smoothly until three quarters of the way through the plain the party had halted as they all heard the growl of a monster.

"What…is that?" Leonard exclaimed

Aniya had begun to ready her weapon when Leonard had placed his arm in her path. "I will handle this…" he announced proudly

Aniya had begun to open her mouth to say something but was cut short as she noticed Leonard had started to have a strange white aura around him. "What on earth…?" she thought to herself

Leonard raised his left hand and magically a gauntlet appeared, while in his left a dagger. Leonard had stabbed the dagger through the slot of the gauntlet as he uttered an incantation:

"O, Wizel…White Warrior…  
>Wielder of the Ancient Sword…Grant me your power!<br>…VERTO!"

As Leonard finished he disappeared and in his placed stood something Aniya remembered from the previous night: a seven meter tall suit of white armor. "So…that was you Leonard?" Aniya uttered softly but loud enough for Yulie to hear

"Yeah, I was there when he first transformed" Yulie spoke as she started to move Aniya out of range of the Knight and monster then said "Quite a sight isn't it?"

Aniya didn't talk, she was still awestruck at what she was looking at, and before she realized it the battle had been won with Leonard cleaving the monster's head clean off with the massive sword. After the deed was done the Knight knelt and in its place was Leonard once again, he then said "Serves them right for trying to stall us…"

"That monster served no one Leonard" Eldore started "He was 'Lord of Greydall Plain,' we simply caught his attention…"

"Oh…" Leonard said dumbfounded

"Wow" Aniya finally said "Just…wow…"

Leonard raised his left arm to show her the ark then said "Apparently this is called an 'ark' and it is what is used to call the Knight" then looked at Eldore "Or Incorruptus as you put it Eldore."

Aniya still looking at the ark attempted to put her hand on it but was immediately blown back several feet. "What happened?" she uttered shielding her hand

"Only the pact maker may touch the ark" Eldore explained to her "Anyone else who attempts to will be rejected like you did."

"I'll keep that in mind. I just remembered though, who were those soldiers that attacked last night?" Aniya asked still shielding her hand

"They were the…'Magi' a group that is trying to reestablish the Empire of Yshrenia…" Yulie tried to explain

"We can talk about it on the road" Eldore said with urgency "We already spent enough time here."

With a combined nod the group continued their path north to the Nordia Tunnels…

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"And yet…your ark seems to be the only exception to that rule" Eldore cut in

"Probably because it's artificial…" Aniya started to explain

"Maybe, but even so…"

"HEY!" Yulie yelled as she glared at the three gentlemen in the room "Let's stop interrupting."

"Yes…it is very rude to do that, especially if it happens multiple times" came a voice from outside

Everyone at this point looked towards the door and realized who was talking: It was Kara in her normal attire. "Kara!" everyone in the room including Aniya yelled at the same time

"Good to see everyone again, it's been a while, Kara had said with a grin, "Glad to see you are up Aniya."

"What are you doing here?" Aniya asked quizzically

"Well, I had heard you were awake again. And I heard about pockets of Magi still around, so the queen wanted all the lords in this land, including Greed's, to gather for an important meeting."

"Makes sense…" Aniya then looked at the others "Is that what you were all talking about that held you up earlier?"

"Indeed," Eldore said, "Considering we have the most experience, she wants us to help deal with them."

Aniya then put on a sad face "And here _I am_ just laying here recapping our journey…"

"Don't worry about it," Cyrus pitched in, "We can handle it. And besides, we have you to thank for saving our country. I think you have done enough."

"Maybe…"

"Well enough about that, so where did you leave off last?" Kara spoke trying to change the subject back

"Oh…yeah," Aniya stammered trying to collect her thoughts, "After the incident with the monster we were at the entrance to Nordia Tunnels when Eldore said we should camp… of course I was left out of the conversation during that night," Aniya paused, "but moving past that we made our way through the tunnels…"

…

**~PAST~**

…

"Ughh…The air is stale in this place" Aniya thought to herself as the group had entered Nordia Tunnels

"The tunnels were used until several years ago when the tunnels were mined out," Eldore started as if he read Aniya's mind, "It is still used for travel to the desert, to some degree at least."

"Yeah, they used to pull many precious materials from here," Yulie commented, "But now things are being imported from faraway"

"Yeah…" Leonard sighed

"I've noticed th-ahhh," Aniya screamed as she dodged, albeit narrowly, a troll's club

"Grrr…another troll," Leonard groaned angrily as he readied his ark, "O, Wizel…White War-"

"Wait, Leonard!" Yulie yelled stopping his incantation, "We shouldn't always rely on your Knight, let's do this without it"

"Indeed," Eldore added, "There may come a time when you will never have the chance to transform"

Aniya nodded to this as well, and with a groan Leonard put away his ark and everyone began to fight the troll.

"Ok everyone, let's do this" Yulie shouted trying to encourage everyone

Leonard with sword and shield, Yulie with bow and arrow, Eldore and Aniya with blade and magic, it seemed that nothing could stop the foursome. This appeared to be true as the troll was staggered by Eldore's magic, while Leonard and Yulie attacked its legs bringing it to its knees, and Aniya jumped onto its back trying to climb up to its head to strike a fatal blow, trolls however, are not all brawn and no brains.

"Aghh!" Aniya screamed as she was grabbed by the troll with its right hand

"Aniya!" Leonard yelled

The troll had started to, literally, squeeze the life from the young girl while the others could do nothing but helplessly watch. Aniya had somehow managed to pull out a dagger and stabbed the troll in the wrist; however this only seemed to enrage the troll as it threw her down a passageway on an upper level, and into a darkened room.

"Ughh…oww…" Aniya said as she tried to look around, "Well, I'm not dead and…"

Aniya's personal monologue was cut short as she heard a faint hissing sound that seemed to grow louder, and more numerous. With her hands shaking Aniya picked up her weapon and readied it preparing for what was to come.

"Ahhhh!" Aniya screamed, as something had jumped onto her back

Aniya gripped whatever it was and threw it to the ground and stomped as hard as she could. Afterwards, she quickly searched around the room for something flammable and noticed a table with papers on it.

"No choice…" Aniya thought to herself as she began to chant

From her hands she produced a ball of fire which illuminated the room partially and revealed what was attacking her. Spiders, blue in color, at least 6 of them, excluding the one she had already killed, had her surrounded and it seemed there were more on the way as she heard more hissing coming from the holes in the walls. With the fire she had created Aniya threw it at the table and it, along with what was on it burst into flames and scared away the spiders.

"Whew…" Aniya said with a giant sigh of relief, and then quickly realized the danger had not yet passed, "I need to get back to everyone!"

As she passed the burnt table she noticed a slight glimmer coming from it. Clearing away the ashes from the burned papers, she revealed an old, albeit mostly rusty, key.

"I'll bring it with me," Aniya thought to herself as she pocketed the key and whatever else she could salvage

She then ran back to the main passage where the rest of the group was fighting the troll, only to find that the troll was already dead but the other three were missing.

"Huh, I guess they needed Leonard's Knight after all," Aniya thought as she noticed the troll had one of its arms had been cut off, "…but where did they go, and why didn't they look for me?"

Aniya began her search for her missing friends, assuming they had moved further in. This was further implied as she noticed that the same type of spiders that had attacked her in the room had littered the path she was following, along with purple lizard-like monsters. It wasn't too long after Aniya began her search that she found the trio; they were standing around trying to find a way through a locked gate that seemed too sturdy to break through.

"Aniya!" Yulie called out noticing her friend

"Hey…" Aniya replied almost emotionless

"Do you think you can help?" Eldore asked slowly, "We can't seem to get past this, I would try magic but I fear it would do more harm than good"

"Yeah," Leonard added in, "The walls don't seem strong enough to withstand too much force"

"Um…" Aniya started as she reached into her pocket, "How about this?" She had pulled out the key she had found in the room with the spiders to everyone's surprise.

"Where did you find that?" Leonard said with a shock

"It's not important…" Eldore said quickly, "More importantly…" Eldore finished as he took the key from Aniya and went to the gate

"So…that's how it is…" Aniya mumbled under her breath

Luckily the key had worked on the gate; however the key broke upon its usage to everyone's shock. But what was on the other side of the gate surprised the group even more: Magi soldiers, at least a dozen.

"So…they knew we were coming…" Eldore said as he readied his weapon

Aniya had turned to Yulie and Leonard and noticed that while Leonard did not show any fear of battle, Yulie was showing the same fear she did as when she had killed that soldier in Balandor.

"Yulie…" Aniya said softly

"Get ready!" Leonard shouted as the soldiers had started to move towards them

As Leonard was beginning to move forward an arrow shot past his left shoulder and struck the nearest soldier square in the chest killing him. The arrow had come from Yulie who was in her ready stance preparing another arrow.

"Whoa…" Aniya exclaimed, surprised at how quickly Yulie had gotten over her fear

As the group had rounded the corners, fighting the magi as they came along, they found some relief as they came to a wide open area with the entrance to the Lagnish Desert on the upper part of the room. However, the group's relief was cut short as a dark voice called out to them from the entrance.

"So...You have finally made it this far…" It was a soldier dressed in dark spiky armor

"You!" Leonard yelled so loud his voice echoed

"Leonard?" Yulie had asked with frightful caution

"He killed the King...and almost killed Cisna!" Leonard had said with anger in his voice

"He…killed the King?"

"Hmmm…" Eldore groaned, "Dragias…I heard he is the General of the magi forces, I didn't think we'd run into him this early…"

Almost immediately after Eldore had finished his sentence when Dragias had jumped from the rising and to their level. Upon rising from his jump, Dragias drew his sword and pointed it at the group then said, "Which of you will be first, hmmm?"

"You're MINE!" Leonard yelled as he rushed the general followed by Eldore

"Leonard, Eldore!" Yulie yelled trying to call them back

Dragias did not seem fazed by the two-on-one odds as he dodged and parried the two attackers with relative ease. It wasn't long before Dragias drove off Leonard and then Eldore.

"His style…" Aniya said finally breaking her silence, "It was almost like a…dance"

"Enough!" Dragias exclaimed seemingly bored of the challenge presented to him

"He's...good…" Leonard said through breaths

Dragias had then begun to chuckle as he raised his hand and a sword seemed to appear in front of him

"No…it can't be…" Eldore said with fear in his voice

A dark aura, coupled with what had seemed to be dark feathers, had begun to surround Dragias as began his incantation:

"O, Dinivas, Deliverer of Dark and Dread  
>Ruler of the Ancient Shadow…Grant me your power…<br>…VERTO!"

Dragias had drawn the sword, and with it a bright flash of light filled the room and in his place stood a Knight similar to Leonard's, however this Knight was black in color.

"This is your end…" Dinivas said mockingly

"Another Knight?" Leonard had said shocked

"That is Ebonwings the Black Knight, the counterpart to your Knight Leonard" Eldore explained

"In that case…" Leonard stated as he started to speak his incantation

However Leonard was unable to complete his incantation as Dragias, in his Knight form, had begun to move towards them with speed so great that Leonard could not concentrate. To Dragias' surprise however he received pain to his right foot from Aniya's sword.

"Leonard!" Aniya cried out "I'll hold him for as long as I can, hurry and transform!"

"You…little bitch!" Dragias yelled as he kicked Aniya and sent her flying towards the wall but her flight was cut short by a giant hand that caught her in midair; she had indeed bought Leonard enough time to transform luckily.

"Thanks Leonard" Aniya said as Leonard set her down

"Idiot…" Leonard started "Do scare me like that again…"

"Yeah…" Yulie added with tears in her eyes "You could have been killed!"

"Sorry…everyone…" Aniya said shyly

"How touching…" Dragias said mockingly, "Now…let us see how you do…boy…"

With that Leonard had begun his attack against the Black Knight. It may have been due to the increased size, but transformed Leonard seemed to match Dragias in skill. The fight seemed to last forever until Leonard had gotten a good hit in with his free hand after he parried Dragias' sword causing him to stagger.

"Ughh…" Dragias cried in pain as he started to retreat, "Dammit, he had already gotten this strong…"

"Trying to run away?" Leonard yelled mockingly to the general

The Black Knight had grown a pair of black raven-like wings and took to the sky to everyone's shock. Leonard was preparing to follow, but was stopped by a spell Dragias had cast when he retreated leaving behind the words: "This isn't over…boy"

Upon Leonard's reversion to his human form the group remarked at how strong he has indeed become with the Knight. After dressing their wounds the group continued up the path towards the entrance to the Lagnish Desert.

"Ahhh…fresh air!" Yulie exclaimed as they finally emerged from the tunnels

"I know what you mean" Leonard added

Eldore added in as well "Yes…but before we continue-"

"We camp right?" Leonard cut in

"Well…yes…" Eldore said with a surprise

~That Night~

"It's good we found an oasis so close to the start of the desert" Eldore commented

"So…Eldore..." Aniya started "Just how many Knights are there?"

"Well, you know of the two that we have already seen the White Knight, and the Black Knight" Eldore started to explain, "the Dogma Legend speaks of three more for a total of five Knights"

"I see…" Yulie spoke with a sigh, "Well…let's hope they don't have the other three"

"Indeed, let's hope…" Eldore added in agreement

"Well, I'll go outside to keep Leonard company…" Yulie said while standing up

As Yulie had left the tent Aniya grabbed her side when she was kicked from Dragias, she then said "And I thought getting kicked by a horse hurt…"

"Are you still in pain?" Eldore asked

"A little…"

"Here…" Eldore said as he put his hand near Aniya's side and cast what had seemed to be a healing spell

Aniya grimaced a little as the bruises started to heal and fade. After Eldore was finished she asked "Can you teach me how to do that? It may come in real handy one day"

"Sure, it is best if I teach you a basic healing spell first though."

~Thirty minutes later~

"Thanks Eldore for the lesson. Well…it's time for me to take the next shift" Aniya spoke as she got up and grabbed her weapon

"Alright, see you soon"

Aniya had exited the tent but to her surprise neither Leonard, who she was supposed to be replacing for watch, along with Yulie, was nowhere to be found. Upon hearing a something that sounded like a splash which came from the pond nearby, she readied her weapon and started her search. Upon arriving at the pond she witnessed Leonard dancing with Princess Cisna who was in her evening gown. Nearby she noticed Yulie standing next to a tree with a frown upon her face.

"Oh…Yulie…" Aniya said softly as so they would not hear

Upon viewing the scene in its entirety Aniya had returned to the tent site, shortly followed by Yulie when immediately went into the tent, and then Leonard.

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"It was an interesting night…" Aniya commented

The room was eerily silent at this point at the announcement of what had happened that night. Yulie's face was bright red and Leonard was in slight shock.

Aniya then cracked a smile and said "As I said before, there are still things to know…"

"So, you danced with the princess Leonard?" Cyrus asked glaring at Leonard

"Uh…yes…" Leonard said snapping out of his shock

"You didn't need to talk about that night!" Yulie yelled raising her hand and swung at Aniya open palmed

However Aniya had regained most of her combat sense and caught Yulie's hand with her own then spoke in a very serious tone "There are some things that should come out, don't you think?"

Aniya had released Yulie's hand and the anger in her eyes had died but still retained a saddened look on her face. Yulie remained silent for a few moments then had gotten up and made for the door, as she was walking she said: "Let's continue this in a little bit…" then left the room

The remaining people in the room were then looking straight at Aniya but were silent and remained that way for several minutes. Aniya then closed her eyes and said "It's best we do continue this later…"

"Yes, I agree" Eldore finally spoke

"Stay here for a moment Leonard. Everyone, can you leave us for a minute?" Aniya asked solemnly

"Ok" Kara added in "Let's go gents"

Kara then led the men, with the exception of Leonard, out of the room and shut the door. When the door was closed completely Aniya started to speak to Leonard in a soft but stern voice, "You need to talk to Yulie, Leonard."

"I don't see how that is any of your business…" Leonard retorted

"You are right, it's not. But think about Yulie's feelings, surely you noticed them during our journeys together?"

Leonard remained silent to Aniya's question then said, "I…"

"Why do you think she was so embarrassed and angry when she left here?" Aniya continued

"I…"

"I know you love Cisna, but Yulie has not entirely given up on you, so rather than drag this out its best that Yulie hear it from your own voice."

"I…don't know how…" Leonard said weakly

"I don't want Yulie to go through what I went through…"

"…"

"Now go, Leonard, if you need me to be there when you talk to Yulie I can do that, after all I'm not going anywhere…yet"

"Alright…" Leonard finally said as he started to make for the door

Leonard opened the door slowly and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He then shook his head and left the room closing the door behind him.

After the door was closed completely Aniya let out a giant sigh and spoke with voice breaking, "Dels…"

~Several hours later~

"Hey! We're back!" Yulie exclaimed as she burst through the door seemingly back to her normal self

"Welcome back…" Aniya said as she saw everyone come back one by one including Leonard

Leonard had given Aniya a look saying that he was not ready to talk to Yulie yet. But before Aniya could say anything to him Yulie spoke after sitting in her normal spot on Aniya's bed, "So after…that night…"

"Yes, we were in the desert…" Aniya started

…

**~PAST~**

…

"Ahhh, it's so hot!" Yulie yelled

"This is nothing" Eldore commented, "It gets hotter, the further we go…not to mention the fire djinns in this area"

Yulie then looked at Eldore, "Oh, great..."

"Once we make it to the town of Albana, we should be able to get some information" Leonard added

The group had then started to make their way through the Lagnish desert. Luckily for them the path to Albana was a straightforward one, but it was not an uneventful one. The red giants, coupled with boar like monsters made the trek more daunting than it had to be. After several hours the group had finally come to the entrance of Albana, which was oddly guarded not only by humans but toads of all things.

"Wow…" Both Yulie and Leonard said at the same time

"Look over there!" Aniya said pointing at the giant pond that the entrance of Albana overlooked, "We can get our casks filled there…"

Aniya paused mid-sentence as she noticed that there was a man near the pond she pointed out although he was too far away to make out his face. Almost as if on cue the man turned toward Aniya and waved at her.

"Aniya!" Yulie yelled "Come on we are heading inside!"

Partially shocked Aniya started back to the group but just before she took five steps she turned around and waved back at the man at the oasis. The man however was nowhere to be found.

"A...mirage?" Aniya thought as she turned around and headed for Albana's gate.


	5. The Lady, the Toad, and the Adventurer

Chapter 4: The Lady, the Toad, and the Adventurer

"Albana, the desert town, ruled by a Don Phibianacci" Eldore started to explain "This town is also known for its craftsmanship, many things can be made here."

"You sure know a lot Eldore" Aniya spoke

"Well, I have been traveling for some time…"

"At least its cooler here than in the desert, although only slightly…" Yulie said with a sigh

"I know what you mean…" Leonard said agreeing with her, "But enough about that, we need to get information about that monoship."

"Indeed" Yulie added "Someone must have seen it, let's ask around"

"Albana is a small town but information is always abundant" Eldore noted

"Well, the best place to get information is where people gather…" Aniya started

"Indeed." Eldore added cutting Aniya short, "Let us start at the tavern and go from there"

The group, with the exception of Aniya, nodded in agreement and began to make their way to the tavern in the square. Aniya had an upset look on her face ever since Eldore cut her off the way that he did. For the moment she shrugged it off and followed behind the three as they all entered the tavern, which appeared to be very busy.

"Wow, I've never seen a place like this so busy before…" Yulie exclaimed

Upon finishing her sentence Yulie many of the tavern patrons looked upon the group, some of them with piercing eyes. Yulie then hid behind Eldore who seemed to shrug it off and shot back some glances of his own. Afterwards the patrons went back to whatever they were doing, and the group found a table and sat.

"That…was scary" Yulie said voice trembling

"Well…we aren't exactly dressed for the desert…" Aniya said then pointed at Leonard and Yulie, "And you two kind of stick out like sore thumbs the way you are dressed…"

"Hmmm, she has a point…" Eldore agreed, "Let us look for more…'appropriate' clothing later…"

"In the meantime…" Aniya said standing up, "Let's ask around here…"

Aniya then walked around the tavern and asked several of the patrons about a black monoship that may have traveled over the town. However each time she asked either she was brushed off or no one had seen or heard anything about the ship. Disappointed she made her way back to the table where her companions were sitting, and upon arrival applause erupted around them as a young blond haired woman made her way from behind the curtain to the center of the stage and began to dance.

"She's so pretty" Yulie said watching her

"Well…I couldn't get any information" Aniya started as she sat down, "Kind of…suspicious if you ask me."

"True" Eldore agreed while his eyes were seemingly locked on the young dancer, "Though I have noticed that we are being watched."

"Yeah…we should keep our guard up…" Leonard said as he took a drink of his water

"_Hmmm, where have I seen that dance before?_" Aniya thought to herself as she turned towards the dancer who was moving closer to them with every passing second

As the young woman got closer it seemed apparent to the group, Eldore in particular, that she was coming straight for them. When the woman was within five feet from the table she drew a short dagger and threw it directly at Leonard.

"Whoa!" Leonard yelled as he barely dodged the dagger which hit the table

"What did you do that for?" Yulie yelled angrily

Upon finishing her sentence a majority of the tavern patrons stood up and glared directly at the group. It was apparent to the group that the patrons in the tavern were from the Magi, and they fell into a trap.

"Step outside!" the young woman commanded with an interesting accent

With that said the patrons ushered the group outside into the town square and surrounded them. Readying their weapons the group was preparing for a rush from the enemy, but it never came. The young dancer then came outside and stood in front of the group, seemingly unimpressed.

"Who are you?" Leonard asked demandingly, "Are you with the Magi?"

"We were hired to take you out…that is all you need to know…" the young woman answered mockingly

"Get ready Leonard!" Eldore warned as the patrons started their attack

The enemies were numerous but unarmored; as such it made is slightly easier to dispatch them. However with each one that was felled it seemed like another took that one's place. The group had dispatched six enemies when exhaustion finally took over.

"We…can't keep this up…forever…" Aniya said between breaths

"Yeah…how many are there?" Yulie agreed as she took a knee

"Yulie!" Aniya yelled as she saw that an enemy was preparing to strike Yulie

As Yulie looked up she saw the attacker, and felt that her time had indeed come, but mere seconds before the attack came the assailant was tackled and knocked to the ground by a mysterious man with shoulder length dark red hair dressed in Albana style clothing and seemed like an ordinary citizen, but Aniya knew otherwise.

"Another adventurer…out here?" Aniya said slowly

The man then looked at Aniya, who seemed only one year older than she, then spoke with a smile "Hello again"

"_Again?_" Aniya thought to herself

"Don't know who you are, but thanks" Yulie said as she got up

"You alright Yulie?" Leonard said as he rushed to Yulie's side

"Yeah…"

With the mysterious man's help the group dealt with the remaining enemies. Outmatched the enemies started to retreat and the young woman stepped forward once again, this time weapon in hand but did not attack, instead looked around disappointingly at her felled compatriots.

"Worthless…" the lady said as she pulled out a blue colored card with a bizarre design

"That…can't be!" Eldore said terrified

"Adveni!" the lady spoke as the card disappeared, then herself and in her place stood a monster which the group had never seen

"W-What is THAT?" Yulie said terrified

"A 'Gigas'" Eldore started to explain, "A being from the void…"

"Whoa…so another Knight?" Leonard asked with a shock

"No…very different from a Knight"

"This is no time for questions Leonard!" Yulie yelled, "Right now we need your knight!"

"Right!" Leonard said as he readied his ark

Meanwhile Aniya was standing back to back with the mysterious man, as they both were dealing with the stragglers. The man had picked up an axe from one of the felled enemies they had defeated, and was wielding it like a professional.

"What did you mean 'again'?" Aniya finally spoke

"Just what I meant" the man answered

"We never met…"

"Not directly no…"

"Wait…the oasis" Aniya said with a shock as she finally realized

"Yup" the man said with a smile

Finally dispatching the last of the enemies, the two turned to the battle between Leonard and the young woman, who were in Knight and Gigas forms respectively. The match was one-sided as Leonard was becoming more and more adept at using his Knight whereas the Gigas, although strong, was very slow. Seeing a chance Leonard saw an opening and struck the Gigas in a seemingly vital spot and caused the beast to kneel in pain.

"Grraaaa!" the beast roared

The sounds from the roar seemed to shake the ground, and upon finishing the monster "disappeared" and in its place was the woman once again. Seemingly finished Leonard return to his human form and walked over to the woman who was still on one knee grimacing with pain.

"Damn you…" the lady said under her breath as she passed out

"Let's get her inside" Yulie suggested

The group nodded as Leonard picked her up and headed for the inn. A short time later the young woman woke up with a start and to her surprise found the group standing over her, watching her carefully.

"What happened?" the woman asked

"The Gigas had almost completely taken over" Eldore started to explain

"You said you were hired to take us out?" Leonard asked

"Yes…" the woman said reluctantly, and angrily

"How much did they pay you?" Eldore asked walking up

"Nothing…" she said as she started to stand

"Then why?" Leonard asked puzzled

"I had no choice…have my Lena, my sister!" she said as her eyes started to tear, "Now that I've failed they will probably kill her!"

"We won't let that happen!" Yulie said confidently

"I suppose once you 'dealt' with us you were to meet with them" Eldore questioned, "Where was it going to be?"

"At some ruins outside the south gate…" the woman said, "But…"

"Let's get going then!" Leonard said interrupting her

"Fine, let me get my gear first" the woman spoke "My name is Kara by the way..."

After Kara got her gear and weapon group started making their way to the south gate and finally had a chance to catch their breath when they all finally realized that despite what had happened in the square the populace seemed to not notice, or care, what had just transpired. In fact everything looked the way it did as if they had just walked into town.

"They thought it was just an everyday brawl" the man spoke seemingly reading everyone's mind

"Ah yes, thanks again for your assistance" Leonard spoke finally realizing the man that had helped was still among them

"No problem"

"Hmmm, you don't seem like an ordinary citizen" Eldore said cautiously, "Who are you?"

"Oh that's right; I believe introductions are in order" the man started, "My name is Dels, and I'm an adventurer, though I haven't been 'adventuring' much lately."

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"…That is where we met you Kara…and Dels, for the first time" Aniya said as she grabbed a glass of water on the table

"Yes" Kara said as she turned to Leonard, "I never did thank you for 'saving' me back then, if I had stayed in that form for much longer…"

"You all have been through a lot" Cyrus added in

"Yeah, the desert, the Gigas, the…Toads" Leonard said with a chuckle

The room was filled with chuckles from everyone except Cyrus who did not understand what was so funny. As the chuckles died down the group turned to Aniya again as she sat the glass back down on the table.

"Speaking of the toads…" Aniya said continuing her story

…

**~PAST~**

...

The group had arrived at the southern gate when they were turned away by the guards for not having a pass, and were informed that they needed to speak to "The Don" in order to obtain one. Disgruntled the group made their way to the Don's residence.

"Oi! What is it you lot want" a green toad exclaimed at the group as they approached the Don's home

"Uh…we are here to see the Don" Leonard started to explain, "We need a pass to get through the south gate"

"Oh, really? And why should the Don give you lot a pass?" another, seemingly older, toad spoke

"It's very important we get through" Yulie said pleadingly

"Why should we care?" the younger toad spoke, "Unless, you are REALLY desperate for one…"

"Give us a sec, alright?" the older toad said as the two toads stepped off to the side for a private conversation

"Heh, I should have warned you about the toads" Dels started, "They like to…strike deals when you least expect it"

"Great…" Aniya spoke with a sigh

"Right then, sorry to keep you waitin'" the older toad spoke, "There is a way you can gain a pass, and fix a problem we are currently havin'"

"And that is?" Kara asked

"Well you see the Don is sick" the young toad started to explain, "With love of all things, with another woman"

"But the Don is married see, and he can't sneak out otherwise the missus would notice" the older toad continued

"So to solve this problem all you lot have to do is take this love letter that the Don wrote to a lady named Verruca, and all our problems are solved"

"Wait a sec, why don't you two take the letter yourselves?" Leonard asked quizzically

"Hmmm, a fair question" the older toad spoke, "But frankly who would want any part of this stu-"

"Eheheh, we aren't exactly equipped for desert travel, not like yourselves" the younger toad said knocking the other toad down, "Well, off you go then"

"Might as well, we won't get anywhere without that pass" Yulie said with a sigh

"Don Phibianacci rules Albana, and he is the only one who issues those passes" Kara explained

"Back into the desert huh?" Leonard spoke with a sarcastic voice

"Yeah…" Aniya said agreeing

"Hmmm, how are we looking on funds?" Eldore asked

"One sec…" Yulie said looking into the money pouch, "ten…thirty…nine-hundred…we are very low, at this rate we won't have enough for gear or food at this rate"

"I see…" Eldore started, "In that case let's split up; one group can make some money here in town, while the other can deliver the letter"

"Agreed" Leonard spoke

"I'll stay here" Aniya said volunteering, "Who's staying with me?"

"I want to see this 'Verruca'" Yulie said

"As do I, I want to know who the Don has feelings for outside his wife…" Kara said agreeing with Yulie

"Leonard, Eldore?" Aniya said almost pleadingly

"I've got to go I have the Knight, and there are a lot of dangerous monsters out there" Leonard spoke scratching his head

"That is true" Dels said reinforcing Leonard's claim

"Hey!" Aniya yelled and glared at Dels

"I have no talent outside of battle so I can't help here" Eldore finally spoke, "It seems you are in charge of making money Aniya"

With that the group, with the exception of Aniya and Dels, made their way outside the north gate, back into the desert and to the oasis in search of Verruca. Aniya, staring at the gate in almost complete disbelief, turned towards Dels in hope she could find some manner of comfort.

"I…can't believe it…" Aniya finally said

"Are you alright?" Dels said trying to comfort her

"It's whatever…I was alone before I started this journey; I guess I will be alone through it too…" Aniya said with a said expression

"Don't worry I'll help you"

"Thanks, but don't you have things to do?"

"Not really" Dels explained, "When you saw me at the oasis earlier I was doing a quest, I made some good money doing it"

"You don't have to-"

"Don't worry" Dels said cutting her off, "I make a lot of money simply slaying the monster around here and selling the items I can craft off their corpses"

"Dressed like that?" Aniya asked puzzled

"Heh, I'm sturdier than I look" Dels said puffing his chest out

"That you do" Aniya said with a laugh

"First let's head to my 'home' I need to grab a few things"

The two then headed to Dels "home" which surprised Aniya greatly as it was only a very small tent in the proverbial slums of Albana, and although it was small it served as Dels' home and he seemed proud of it.

"Give me a moment please" Dels said to Aniya as he entered his tent and closed the entrance

Aniya waited outside for what seemed like an eternity and when Dels' came out he looked very different from when he entered, and this surprised Aniya even more than when she saw where he was living. Dels' was in very heavy looking armor and had a very large battle-axe strapped to his back.

"Uh, remind me never to get on your bad side…" Aniya said slightly fearful

"You have nothing to fear from me, I doubt you ever could anyways" Dels said while laughing

"I have to ask: if you make so much money, why do you live here?" Aniya asked

Dels remained silent for a moment then spoke, "I give money to some of the poor here, I leave just enough to get by on my own"

"I see…"

"It's not so bad, nor is the Don if you are wondering"

Aniya remained silent

"You'll understand when you meet him, anyways lets go" Dels said as he took Aniya by the hand

"Where are we going?" Aniya said slightly blushing

"You'll see" Dels said with a slight smile

The two came upon the southern gate once more, however this time Dels showed something to the guard and the two were allowed to pass. Aniya was being surprised by Dels more and more as time passed. Upon passing through the gate the two came to the southern region of the Lagnish Desert.

"Hey" Aniya started with a slightly angry tone, "If you had a pass, why didn't you say so in the beginning?"

"If I had you guys wouldn't have gotten one for yourselves" Dels started, "And besides, it's better this way"

"Okay…" Aniya said with a sigh

"So how long have you been adventuring?" Dels asked

"So you could tell, huh?"

"An adventurer can always spot another"

"That is true, I instinctively knew you were one during that fight in town"

"And I knew you were one when I saw you at the oasis" Dels paused, "But anyways, we don't have a lot of time so let's get this done quick"

"So what are we doing?"

"A quest of monster hunting" Dels started, "Well, for the meat of some anyways"

"ewww, monster meat?" Aniya said slightly disgusted

"You'd be surprised how good it is" Dels said with a laugh, "And the reward for this quest is ten-thousand"

"Nice" Aniya said with a smile

"Let's go!" said as he drew his weapon and led Aniya

**~PRESENT~**

…

"So that's how you made the money that time" Yulie said slightly surprised

"I learned a lot from Dels when I traveled with him even though it was a short time then" Aniya explained

"Now I am starting to understand" Eldore said slowly

Aniya looked at Eldore then down at her hands and remained silent. The rest of the group looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then Aniya snapped out of her reverie.

"But anyways…"

…

**~PAST~**

…

A short time later the two adventurers, finishing their quest, returned to Albana and found the rest of the group waiting for them. Aniya waved to the group while Dels went in the direction to turn in the quest.

"Hey, when did you all get back?" Aniya asked as she ran up to them

"Just now" Eldore spoke with a serious tone, "So you were traveling with him for a while?"

"Yeah, we were making some money" Aniya started to explain

"I don't think you should trust him" Eldore interrupted, "We don't know him…"

"I trust him more th…" Aniya started but then stopped herself, "Never mind. Anyways did you all deliver the letter?"

"Yeah, and you will be surprised who Verruca is" Leonard spoke with excitement in his voice

"Not more than what I found out about Dels" Aniya said under her breath

"Shall we get going?" Kara said impatiently

The group nodded and proceeded to the Don's residence, upon arrival the older toad ushered the group into the Don's home and brought them before the Don himself. When the group entered the Don's chambers they were witness to a very humorous sight: the Don helplessly being berated by his wife who was much smaller than the Don himself.

"My love, you know I have feelings for no one but you" the Don pleaded

"Ribbit, rib-ribbit RIBBIT!" the lady spoke though only the Don and the other toads understood her

"Oi! It took you lot long enough!" the young toad said as he noticed the group

"It's a long way to the Oasis" Yulie said

"Bah, excuses, excuses" the older toad added

The younger toad looked back towards the couple then again to Leonard and spoke, "Misses Phibianacci a group from Verruca has come!"

This caused the couple to stop quarreling and made them pay attention to the group, the lady toad in particular. The young toad then pretended to berate the group, and pretended to receive a message from Verruca, noting that she read the letter Phibianacci sent to her and that she was heartbroken that he turned her down. This seemed to sate the anger from Phibianacci's wife as she retreated to her chambers.

"Whew…Crisis resolved…" the older toad said with a sigh

"So, uh do you have a message from this Verruca?" the young toad asked Leonard

"Uh, yeah…" Leonard said as he pulled out the return letter from Verruca

"Alright then," the older toad said as he took the letter and began to read it, "'Dear Phibianacci, thank you for your kind letter. While I am very flattered I can never leave the oasis to live near you, as I cannot live very long outside the water. I am afraid our love is to remain…unconsummated'"

A silence fell onto the room as the older toad finished reading the letter as everyone, especially Phibianacci, was surprised to its content. The silence was finally broken as Phibianacci too k the letter from the toad and read it himself, and found that he could not hold in his emotion as he started to weep uncontrollably. A few moments later the Don regained his composure and addressed the group directly.

"Ah, I must apologize for that domestic display" the Don started, "You all must be the group who delivered my letter to Verruca, I must reward you. What is it you desire? Ask and if it is within my power I will grant it."

"We need a pass for the South Gate, we want to go to the ruins" Leonard spoke

"Ah, but a simple matter!" the Don said slightly surprised, "But that can hardly be a reward for what you have done…"

"Boss, how's about…" the older toad spoke as he whispered into the Don's ear

"Ahh an excellent Idea…" the Don started

"Hey, Aniya" a familiar voice came from behind

As Aniya turned around she realized the voice came from Dels, it seemed he was watching the show. Sneaking away from the group Aniya made her way to Dels side who was just outside the door to the Don's chamber, and upon arrival he gave her a very large bag.

"What's this?" Aniya questioned

"Silly, it's the quest reward, did you forget?" Dels joked with a smile

"No, but…" Aniya paused as she counted how much was in the bag, "It seems like more than what you mentioned"

"I added a little more in there" Dels explained, "Remember how I said I made money off monster parts? Some of it was from that"

"Oh yeah, you told me about that"

"Anyways, take care Aniya" Dels said as he started to make his way out

"What are you going to do now?" Aniya asked

"I think I am going to start travelling again" Dels said as he turned around to face Aniya

"Nothing is certain these days not with the Magi about, so be careful…"

"Always…"

With that Dels made his way outside and out of Aniya's view, while Aniya herself made her way back to the group bag in hand. The group was finishing up the talks with the Don who had granted them access to the binding posts on top of giving them a pass to the south gate. With the task done the group made their way outside.

"Well that was…interesting" Eldore said with a smirk

"Yeah, the Don was a funny character" Yulie said chuckling

"I suppose so" Kara added chuckling with her

"Yeah, anyways" Leonard said then addressed Aniya, "How much did you make?"

"Oh, yeah" Aniya said as she presented the bag given to her by Dels, "About seventeen-thousand gald"

"Wow" Yulie said surprised, "So much in such a short time"

"Thank Dels" Aniya added, "He helped me…"

"Where is he now?" Eldore questioned

"He's going to travel again" Aniya paused, "We might run into him again"

"Well now that we have some money we can upgrade our gear" Leonard spoke pointing at the shop

The group agreed and made their way to the gear shop, upon entry the group spread out and picked what they wanted. Weapon wise Leonard had picked a new sword and shield, Eldore picked out a new sword only, Yulie got a bow, whereas Aniya picked up a Claymore much to everyone's surprise. Completing their shopping Yulie and Leonard got something more appropriate for the desert, and stocked up on healing items, then headed outside towards the south gate.

"Here we go!" Leonard exclaimed

"I am coming Lena…" Kara said under her breath

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"When I traveled with Dels in that part of the Lagnish desert, I learned something about the enemies in that area…" Aniya started, "When we were traveling to the ruins I tried to veer us away from enemies that could have taken us out before we got to it…even with the Knight Leonard"

"True, some of the monsters in the desert were tough" Leonard agreed, "We fought some deadly monsters on our way to and from the oasis"

"Indeed" Kara added, "You weren't with us then but Leonard struggled a bit against some of the monsters, especially the 'lion'"

"That type of monster…" Aniya said with a frown, "…is annoying"

The group nodded in agreement to Aniya's statement.

"I have a question Kara…" Aniya said as she looked at Kara herself

"What is it?" Kara asked cautiously

"…Was Lena really your sister? Or was that a ploy?"

Kara remained silent for a moment then spoke, "She wasn't my sister, though for the time I was in Albana, I befriended her…mainly for the reason that she looked like me to some degree"

"I see…" Aniya said slowly

"Does that matter?" Eldore interjected

"No, I was just curious" Aniya answered

"Thinking back on it now, what Belcitane did was unforgivable, regardless whether or not she was my sister" Kara spoke with anger in her voice

"It wasn't your fault Kara" Yulie reassured her, "You were misled back then"

"But still…"

"She is right Kara" Aniya interrupted, "I was only curious I'm sorry for bringing up a terrible memory"

"It's alright…" Kara said slowly

"Moving along we made our way through the southern portion of the Lagnish desert and arrived at the ruins" Aniya said continuing

…

**~PAST~**

…

"Cisna!" Leonard yelled as he reached the top of the stairs in the ruins

"Leonard!" the young princess yelled back

"Oh? On a first name basis now are we?" Belcitane said mocking Leonard

"Where is Lena? Where is my sister?" Kara demanded

"Ah, Kara I see you have failed at the mission we gave you…such a pity"

"Damn you…" Leonard said angrily as he started to step forward

"Ah, ah, ah…" Belcitane said as he drew a dagger and put it to the princess' throat then said, "Now then, if you don't want your precious princess hurt surrender the ark…"

"Grrr…"

"Do it Leonard…" Eldore said reluctantly

Doing as Eldore said Leonard placed the Knight's Ark down in front of Belcitane and backed up slowly. Putting away the blade Belcitane then put on a big grin as he approached the ark and proceeded to pick it up, however, just like Aniya before him, he was blown back and a bright light enveloped the area blinding all present. Seeing this chance Kara moved to the princess' side and brought her over to the rest of the group.

"What the hell?" Belcitane asked angrily

"Don't you know?" Eldore started with a smile, "Only the pactmaker may touch the ark"

"Fine then, we will do this the hard way!" Belcitane said as he motioned toward the soldiers near him

Three of the five soldiers stepped forward seemingly with the intention of attacking the group, however they all stopped in front of them and pulled out cards similar to the one used by Kara earlier. Completely in sync with each other all three uttered the word "Adveni" and blinding flashes of light erupted from their chests causing them to disappear, and reappear as three Gigas.

"How could they?" Kara asked completely puzzled

"Soldier's following orders blindly…" Eldore said somewhat sadly

"Fools…" Aniya said agreeing with him

"I don't think I can handle all three at once" Leonard said uncertain

"Don't worry we have your back Leonard" Yulie said reassuring him

"Thanks Yulie" Leonard said as he readied his ark, and then spoke "Verto!"

Once again Leonard was in his Knight form and proceeded to fight the three Gigas alongside his companions. The fight was hard fought as all three were as equally as strong as Leonard in his Knight form, so strong in fact that Yulie, Eldore, Aniya, and even Kara were virtually powerless against them. Just before Eldore was crushed underfoot by one of the Gigas Dels appeared and pushed him out of the way, barely getting out of harm's way himself.

"Dels?" Aniya asked completely surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"I'll explain later!" Dels commented as he slashed one of the Gigas across the chest knocking it down

"Whoa!" Yulie said in utter disbelief at Dels strength

"Thanks again" Leonard said as he dispatched another of the Gigas

Teaming up on the third Gigas the group quickly dispatched it allowing them to gain a much needed breather, however all three of the Gigas stood up once again seemingly refreshed.

"Not too shabby…" Belcitane said mockingly, "Did you know that Gigas can become more powerful when merged together?"

Upon finishing his sentence Belcitane snapped his fingers and from behind the three Gigas appeared a young blond girl, Kara knew immediately who it was.

"Lena!" Kara yelled

"However…" Belcitane continued as he pulled out another card, this one red in color, "Sadly such a feat requires a human sacrifice, and since you forced my hand…"

"He wouldn't!" Yulie said terrified

Placing the card near the young lady's head the card glowed and a bright flash of light appeared; amidst the light the screams of the girl could be heard. Kara started to run forward in the attempt to save Lena, but Leonard stopped her with his leg, and when the light subsided the three Gigas had become one large beast with three heads.

"You demon!" Dels yelled

"Leonard…please…" Kara pleaded, "My sister is gone…promise me you will kill that Gigas"

"I will..." Leonard said with anger in his voice

Leonard then engaged the beast alone with the rest of the group hanging back for they knew that this time they would be no help whatsoever, but Leonard himself was no match for this combined monster, it easily overpowered him. Seeing this Cisna suddenly felt a jolt inside her body, and uttered an incantation no one could understand, afterwards part of a pillar near them crumbled away revealing a shield. Seeing the chance Leonard grabbed it and it seemed to give him the upper hand in dealing with the massive monster, allowing him to deflect the monsters blows and occasionally stun it. With one final strike Leonard struck the beast a mortal blow killing it causing it to explode, and leaving nothing but dust in the air.

"Let me go!" Cisna screamed

Belcitane had recaptured her during the closing moments of the battle, and overhead the black monoship they have been chasing appeared once again and dropped an "anchor" which Belcitane with Cisna in tow stepped on.

"Damn it you won't get away!" Leonard commanded

"Until next time!" Belcitane said mocking the group as the anchor took them both away

…

**~PRESENT~**

…

"So you all failed to retrieve the princess then…" Cyrus said with a very serious tone

"Yes…sadly" Leonard answered with a sorrowful tone

"That is my fault" Kara added, "I left her alone so that Belcitane could get a hold of her again"

"I see…" Cyrus said as he glared at Kara

"It's unimportant" Eldore interrupted, "We got her back in the end, which is all that matters"

"True, everything worked out in the end" Yulie added

"Wow…" Aniya said with a surprise after looking outside, "It's already afternoon"

"You have been talking for a while" Kara joked, "Let's take a break here and continue in a little bit"

"Yeah…I'm starting to get a little hungry actually" Yulie said shyly

"Ok, then lets continue this in a little while" Aniya suggested

"I'll bring you some food Aniya" Cyrus said with a smile

"Uh…you can cook Cyrus?" Yulie asked puzzled

"Well…well enough for myself I suppose…"

"No-no-no-no, I'll cook for her" Yulie said hurriedly

Everyone in the room laughed at the small debate between Yulie and Cyrus. Shortly afterward, one by one, everyone left the room leaving Aniya by herself again. Picking up the Knight's Ark off the she looked deeply into the orb looking for something, but saw nothing, and with a sigh she put it back down on the table.

* * *

><p>AN: In case you are wondering, Dels was my second character in the game, Aniya was my first


End file.
